Press Releases

Building on the significant progress seen in America’s schools over the last six years, the U.S. Department of Education announced today that Delaware, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Puerto Rico have each received continued flexibility from provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

The U.S. Department of Education today announced that its Office for Civil Rights has reached an agreement with the Chicago Public Schools to ensure that Illinois’ largest school district complies with Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.

"America's students deserve a strong education bill that builds on the tremendous progress of the last decade and supports opportunity for every child. Instead, House Republicans have chosen to take a bad bill and make it even worse. Instead of supporting the schools and educators that need it most, this bill shifts resources away from them. Instead of ensuring states and districts improve struggling schools and serve all students, it makes that optional.

"High-quality preschool is incredibly important to giving kids a strong start in school and in life. I want to congratulate Gov. Jay Inslee, educators and other leaders in Washington state on the Early Start Act, which will improve early learning opportunities for over 48,000 children, building on the successes the state's Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant.

Continuing its work to make student loan debt more manageable, the U.S. Department of Education today announced its plans to provide an additional six million federal loan borrowers access to student loan payments capped at 10 percent of income.

As a next step to provide students who attended Corinthian Colleges the debt relief they are entitled to, Under Secretary Ted Mitchell announced today that he has appointed Joseph A. Smith, a distinguished advocate for consumers and taxpayers, as a Special Master to guide a fair, efficient process.

"Today's decision is a win for America's students and taxpayers. Far too often, so-called career colleges leave students burdened with debt they'll never be able to repay and stick taxpayers with the bill. Two federal district courts have now thrown out entirely the for-profit industry's attempts to fight basic accountability measuresa clear sign that the courts continue to recognize both our legal authority and our reasonable approach in establishing these consumer protections.

Building on the significant progress seen in America’s schools over the last six years, the U.S. Department of Education announced today that Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New York, West Virginia and the District of Columbia have each received multiple years of continued flexibility from provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).